


Night Blooming

by cinereous



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: F/M, PWP, Pre-Canon, Semi-Public Sex, Treat, Yakuza Iwai, wound care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:48:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29287821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinereous/pseuds/cinereous
Summary: He heard soft footsteps approaching, and he slowly dragged his head up from the limp, rolled forward position it had been in to see a nurse coming over. His vision swam, but he could make out soft pink with the white.The closer she got, the more Iwai could make her out in his blood loss haze. Hm. She was pretty. Damned pretty.
Relationships: Iwai Munehisa/Uehara Sayoko
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Night Blooming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [habenaria_radiata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/habenaria_radiata/gifts).



> Thank you to both [KelpieChaos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KelpieChaos) and [foxjar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxjar) who were kind enough to beta read this work for me!

It hadn’t been a shootout.

Iwai thanked his lucky stars for that. This night could have gone so much worse. Though, being stabbed wasn’t too much higher on the acceptable list than being shot. Or well, slashed at least.

He’d checked into the emergency room shortly after midnight, and he’d been led to a room more quickly than he could have anticipated. Given the late hour, the amount of blood he was dripping on the floor, and the obvious tattoo peeking out from his sliced up shirt sleeve he had no reason to expect their expediency. Then again, it could also just be that they were eager to get him somewhere more private.

Probably thought he’d scare the others in the waiting room. He couldn’t argue with that.

Still, being alone now while he waited to be attended to fucking sucked. He was positively dying for a cigarette, he _hurt_ , and he was getting hungrier and hungrier as the night progressed. Fuck those assholes. If he could go back in time, he would have knocked their teeth out before they ever pulled their knife. Iwai wasn’t even sure if they’d gotten away or not. The others had run after them, but his comrades had held him back before he could give chase as well.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t a time traveler. Just an idiot who had been a half-second too slow. It was his kind of luck really. 

Iwai sighed and ground his teeth, admiring the soaked through gauze under his fingers. The fucker had plunged the knife into his shoulder and left a huge gash there. It had been bleeding for awhile, and he was man enough to admit he was woozy as fuck by now.

He heard soft footsteps approaching, and he slowly dragged his head up from the limp, rolled forward position it had been in to see a nurse coming over. His vision swam, but he could make out soft pink with the white. 

The closer she got, the more Iwai could make her out in his blood loss haze. Hm. She was pretty. Damned pretty.

He couldn’t help the sly grin that curled at his lips, and he kept it closed lipped just in case his teeth were bloody from the punch one of the thugs had gotten in. Figured he’d see someone as gorgeous as this woman when he looked like a pile of garbage. His kind of luck for sure.

“Oho...You’re handsome,” she greeted. Her voice was practically a purr, thick with innuendo and intention that grabbed Iwai’s attention. “And it looks like you made a mess of yourself. Iwai Munehisa, right?”

Listen to her! Iwai’s eyes flashed with excitement and interest as this woman hit on _him_ as casually as anything. In an emergency room no less! He didn’t even know what to say! She had thrown him for such a loop that he felt flat footed and tongue-tied, reverted back to being a dirty nosed little fifteen year old all over again. Fuck.

He stared her down, taking in her features in his lightheaded state. Her hair was tied back like most of the nurses, but where she had it clipped back from her face he could see two small little strands of hair sticking out, too short to be tamed. It was cute.

She had incredibly pretty eyes. Wide set and sultry, perpetually at a flirtatious half mast and sporting thick, beautifully curled lashes.

It was the beauty mark on her chin that really did him in though. He had just met this woman, but already a steamy play-by-play filled his mind’s eye of just how it would be to drag his tongue against that small, unique little mark. It was special and sexy and he had a good feeling that his next jerk off session was going to be chock full of little freckles like that.

Despite her words and the heat filled quality to her eyes, her dress was modesty personified right down to the pale pink cardigan she wore over her white uniform. Was she cold?

He could definitely warm her up.

Iwai smirked and sat up a little straighter, subconsciously puffing his chest out and straightening his shoulders with a wince to make himself seem larger and more impressive under her gaze. Fuck, she was practically tiny compared to him.

“I like your lil hat,” he told her, grinning like he knew a secret and letting his heavy eyes slide up to said hat nestled in her shining hair and back down to her eyes. “But yeah, it’s Iwai. And what’s your name, gorgeous?”

Her smirk was a sugary pink one that begged for attention, and Iwai watched her pretty butterfly lashes fall lower. “I have a nametag,” she pointed out, thrusting her chest up a little pointedly. She was such a minx, confident in herself in a way that was almost criminal. He liked her a lot.

His eyes slid down to the little laminated card clipped to her breast pocket and smiled. “So you do. Nurse Uehara Sayoko. Got a nice ring to it. Pretty name for a pretty lady.”

It might be his imagination, but he was fairly sure that Sayoko liked his attention. She practically preened for him, flirtatious eyes going to scan through the papers on her clipboard before she playfully tossed it onto the table nearby. Everything felt like a show, one put on just for him, and Iwai could admit he was laser focused.

“So...lacerations, hm? You seem to be the sort of man to get himself into dangerous situations. You’re lucky whoever did this to you had bad aim or didn’t get a stab in,” she told him, pulling some rubber gloves from a dispenser nearby, and Iwai couldn’t help the positively parched swallow he gave as she tugged and snapped them into place over her hands.

He’d never really been into medical kink before, but fuck if she didn’t inspire _something_ in him.

“Yeah. The fucker didn’t know that knife from his dick. Just got me by surprise is all.” This felt so familiar. It felt like nights at the bar chatting up office ladies and trying to figure out what compliments or scary stories turned them pink and more agreeable.

Sayoko was different though. She’d come on to _him_. He didn’t really have to posture for her, did he? She saw something worth consideration at first sight and there was nothing more heady than that. He felt wanted, seen, _sexy_ in a way no other woman had ever quite managed. 

He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of life made a girl like this. What had happened to her that she felt bold enough to be so up front? Was she picked on for her looks until she finally wielded them like a blade? Did she get burned one too many times being polite until one day she threw her politeness and inhibitions into the fire instead? Or was she simply born with steel in her spine and steam in her eyes, a dare on the tip of her clever tongue for whoever dared cross her?

Iwai didn’t have any answers, only more questions, but his eyes tracked her around the room as she gathered supplies. She looked so small and ordinary when she was several feet away, but as she returned to his bedside with a little rolling table her beauty and magnetic attraction were refocused to front and center like a warning street sign swimming into view from a layer of fog.

Sayoko, for all that her eyes were heavy with interest, was still professional. He watched her gloved hands as they moved with confidence and ease preparing cotton balls and gauze and antiseptic. Finally, she turned to him and reached out to pluck at the front of his shirt.

“Do you mind if I help you out of this? It’s ruined anyway, but it’s that or I have to cut it open. Sexy as that might be, always good to have an intact shirt to walk out in, right?” Sayoko teased, and Iwai was heartily pleased by the impish wink she tacked on to the end. He felt drunk and out of it, and forgot for just a moment that it was due to blood loss and not her feminine wiles.

It didn’t stop his doofy ass smile though. “If you wanted me outta my shirt you just had to ask.”

Her chuckle mingled with his own and together they worked at the buttons on his shirt. His fingers didn’t want to cooperate much, but hers were deft and nice to look at. She had longer nails that he could see through the gloves. He'd gotten a glimpse of them before and knew they were glossy under the lights and faintly pink. All he could think about was how badly he wanted to feel them scratching down his back.

A few breathing seconds later, Sayoko parted the panels of his shirt, gently tugging the tails of it free from his pants and helpfully shifting to his other side to pull it from his uninjured arm. The last part, however, was the injured one. Iwai tried not to show how badly it hurt, but that arm was stiff and pulsing with pain by now, and as she peeled the fabric down he hissed loudly when it tried to cling to the dried blood that had accumulated there.

She was all sweet shushing sounds the whole time, soft and tender and still sensual through all of it. Once it was off, she folded it somewhat neatly and placed it on the bedside table with the clipboard before turning back to him.

It felt kind of sexy to be bare chested like this in front of her, but that might be his arousal talking. Plus, it might be his wishful imagination, but he was pretty sure her dark eyes were roving all over his now exposed skin.

“Interesting,” she purred, and Iwai almost lost his shit to feel her trail her chilled fingertips against his shoulder blade. He knew what she was looking at, but even so, he hoped it wouldn’t send her fetching a different nurse. “Spider lilies. It’s an odd choice for a Yakuza.”

He craned his neck as if he could possibly see them too and shrugged, wincing immediately after as it made his wound pang with agony a moment later. He could be such an idiot sometimes.

“Guy who did it for me said the same thing, but I mean, it’s not just death. It’s rebirth too. Told me his mom used to say you couldn’t bring ‘em inside or your house’ll burn down. Dunno if he was trying to be deep with me or just was tryin’ to psych me out.”

Not being able to shrug, Iwai sighed, idly picking dried blood from beneath his fingernails while Sayoko’s soft fingers still trailed so bravely along the ink on his back. He shivered again, but this time when he craned his neck he caught sight of her dark, pretty eyes.

“They used to plant ‘em on graves to keep animals from eatin’ the corpses actually. Like protectors. I liked that part about ‘em more than the rest.”

Her thin brows knit and her eyes gained a thoughtful quality to them that Iwai couldn’t parse. He was good at reading people normally. He seemed to always know what people were thinking, if they were scared, if they were going to pull a gun. His intuition and his perception were his gifts more than his fists, but he found it particularly unsettling that it was this beautiful nurse that could stump him.

And just as quickly as the moment began, it ended. Sayoko blinked and shifted. The vulnerability on her face was wiped into the vaguely catty sweetness once again, and Iwai told himself he didn’t mind.

She got down to business beside him, plucking up alcohol soaked cotton and leaning in to begin cleaning the large gash there. It was ugly to even look at, and the instant she got close enough to the raw flesh with it he hissed loudly and aggressively through his teeth. Sharp, stinging pain flooded his senses, and for all of a moment, he felt like a little boy again with a skinned knee.

“Yeah, it hurts a lot. I’m sorry, big guy,” Sayoko crooned, her eyes almost pure dark chocolate when he met them. He wasn’t sure how a woman could be so sexy and so tender and sweet at the same time. It was a balancing act that left him dizzy, but he couldn’t focus on that feeling for more than a split second before the pain was searing white hot and intense once again.

It took...awhile. Or maybe just a few minutes. Iwai didn’t know. But when he looked down with his eyes damp and burning he could see a sizable pile of bloody cotton. He held still through the rest, letting her ascertain that no fibers from his clothing remained.

Strangely, the stitches were far easier to deal with. She numbed him well, and Iwai watched with bleary fascination as she threaded the winking silver of the needle through his skin again and again, pulling the gash together. It was gross and interesting, and he tried to ignore the pang of loss and lust at the little snip of her scissors signalling it was over.

The last step was wrapping it to protect it from the elements. Iwai held still and let her wind the soft roll of gauze around his arm, praying desperately that he didn’t stink to high heaven every time he lifted his arm up to give her more access.

She finished the wrap in only seconds, fastening it into place. Just like that...his medical needs had been met. Sayoko seemed to feel the same thing. She lingered there by his knee, idly caressing his arm and staring at him through her lashes. 

A small piece of her hair had fallen free of her hair tie, dripping down around her face and softening it. He wanted to reach up and push it back, but he didn’t want to break the moment that felt as delicate as a soap bubble between them. What a strange night.

Sayoko smiled. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever tended to a man with arms this big before,” she teased, trailing a finger from his patched up shoulder all the way down to his wrist with heavy, slow purpose. It tickled the whole way down, and Iwai swallowed with great difficulty, watching his fingers spasm a bit from her touch.

“Oh yeah?”

His voice came out deeper and full of gravel, and he didn’t need a mirror to know that his expression was full of heat and interest. His stomach was a gnawing pit of hunger, his arm ached lightly beneath the waning numbness, and his skin was covered in light gooseflesh from the chill of the room and his lack of shirt.

And furnace hot tendrils of lust were gently untangling in his belly, dipping fiery fingers between his legs. Sayoko was a woman he couldn’t wrap his mind around. He’d only just met her, but already he felt the urge to spirit her away, go on the run with her on the back of his motorcycle to destinations unknown so that he could unravel her piece by piece in hotel rooms and convenience stores. 

She was confident to the point of concern. Intelligent and talented enough to pave her own path in the world. So beautiful that her style of dress felt condescending and affected. 

And he still desperately wanted to get his lips against that beauty mark that was so coquettish and distracting.

“That’s right. I don’t think I can wrap both of my hands around it,” she teased, going to try doing just that. In her defense, her hands were very small, and her attempt to wrap them around his bicep was a failure. Iwai preened a bit, sitting up straighter and smirking, trying to pretend like he wasn’t doing his level best to flex without it being obvious.

Sayoko laughed. It was a pretty, breathy sound that made his cock pulse with interest. She was moving away though, grabbing hold of the hanging white curtain by his particular bed that was used to partition off patients. She walked slowly, dragging it behind her with great purpose, following its track along the ceiling and staring at him like a cat stalking a bird outside its window.

As soon as the curtain whispered into place she lifted her arms and pulled her cardigan off, making eye contact with him the whole time. Iwai wasn’t sure if he’d passed out and was dreaming or if this was really happening, but decided to say ‘fuck it’ either way.

He spread his legs slowly in invitation, delighted to watch Sayoko not even hesitate to move into the space between his knees. He marveled all over again at just how petite she was, almost delicate and too soft. Iwai was almost afraid to touch her, imagining her crumpling under his hands like a rose clutched too tightly in his fist.

But hesitation was for the weak, and Iwai was an opportunist. He lifted his hands and reached for the clasp near her shoulder, holding his breath as he undid each one and then started to peel the panel of fabric to the side.

A part of him expected to see a simple white strap beneath, but his eyes went wide with pleased surprise to see flirtatious pink lace hiding in the shadow of her uniform. Her bust was modest and perfect. Iwai’s mind was already desperately supplying ideas on just what they would feel like against his palms or his face. He wanted to find out.

He was about to ask for permission to do just that when Sayoko suddenly reached forward, planted her hand against his uninjured shoulder, and _pushed._ Iwai was so surprised he couldn’t even stop the momentum. He practically spilled back against the bed at an awkward angle, staring up at her thoroughly amused smirk.

Iwai didn’t question. He didn’t say a word, only hurried to shift up onto the bed properly, angling himself to be lying in the correct direction before Sayoko was _right_ _there_ , straddling his hips and planting those soft, beautiful hands against his chest.

Even above him, she looked small, her legs spread so wide he could see the matching pink lace peeking out beneath the bunched up fabric of her dress. She weighed nothing at all and yet her weight pressing down over his arousal was more than enough to send his lust skyrocketing.

“Fuck. I like a woman who takes what she wants,” Iwai whispered, knowing he’d charmed her by the sultry smile that spread across her lips. “You sure about this though? Here? Not lookin’ to get you in trouble.”

Sayoko’s smirk deepened, turning into the seductive slash of a succubus as she leaned down over him and pressed her lips to his own for the first time. They were _achingly_ soft and something on her breath reminded him of green tea and honey. 

“You shouldn’t question your healthcare professionals, Iwai. I have one last test to do before I release you from my care. Will you cooperate?” Her voice was thick and sweet, deeper in her playful sexuality. It called to mind the scent of wisteria thick on the hot air in summer; dominating and so wonderful you don’t even mind being drowned in it.

“ _Absolutely._ ”

“Good.”

Iwai watched her slip back up into a sitting position, larger than life and too small all at once. She moved like a snake above him, pulling her arms free of her dress until it was a crumpled halo around her hips. The high points of her cheeks were flushed an alluring pink to match her lips, and Iwai delighted in the little hat in her hair seeming to be just that little bit off kilter. She was imperfect and so much more raw like this, and Iwai didn’t hesitate to reach up with his good arm to trail his fingers along the top of one lacy cup.

Sayoko’s chest heaved under his touch, rising to greet him in breathy eagerness. Her eyes were little more than a glimmer of onyx beneath her lashes now and the groan of the tiny bed under their weight as she leaned down over him was like some sort of bizarre sexy choir in the background of his masturbation fantasy come to life.

The lace of her bra scratched against his bare chest, but he was in love with it. He was even more in love with her being this close now. Iwai surged up just enough that he could _finally_ , finally drag his lips against that tantalizing beauty mark.

He couldn’t really feel a texture, but it didn’t matter. It was enough to know it was there, to let his tongue skate against her skin and graze this tiny spot of unique perfection that had been distracting him since she walked in. His hands dragged heavy and curious along her back, marveling at just how soft her skin was beneath his fingertips. Her perfume smelled like jasmine. He thought. He was never good with flowers.

Their mouths shifted and pressed together without hesitation. There was not a single timid bone in her body. Sayoko’s tongue met his own boldly, snaking with easy dominance and laying claim to him before he was even able to prepare himself. 

Small hands worked at his belt and the purred whisper of his fly being pulled down was his only warning before the silken heat of her hand plunged beneath his underwear and surrounded him. Arousal swamped him. So much so that Iwai felt a trickle of embarrassment over the way his hips bucked up to meet her palm instantly. Fuck, he hadn’t responded to a woman like this in so long. It was like he was a teenager again. There was something about Sayoko that set his veins on fire, and it was only his thirst to watch her in action that prevented him from throwing her down onto the bed and taking control himself.

“You’ve got one hell of a bedside manner,” he teased, his voice a threadbare mess against her lips. Despite his lack of shirt and the chill, he could feel sweat itch at his back and along his neck, and he thought he could see a faint sheen of it on her too. 

She just smiled and tightened her grip around him, easing her position up so that she was longer in kissing distance and towering over him. Iwai could do nothing but stare, admiring how her legs looked spread around him and zeroing on a single beauty mark-like freckle on her breast that he definitely wanted to get his mouth on too.

Fuck, she was so sexy it was going to kill him.

Sayoko paused in touching him to peel his underwear down, gently pulling his cock free of his clothes so that she could see it for the first time. Whatever she was hoping to find, he obviously fit the bill. Her eyes widened and her lips pursed into a pretty ‘o’ of surprise that melted just as quickly into a lascivious smile.

“Aren’t you sweet,” she purred, lifting herself up onto her knees and reaching between her legs. Iwai’s eyes went round and hungry, not daring to believe what he was seeing. Sayoko crooked a finger beneath the bottom of her panties and tugged them to the side, revealing herself to his white hot gaze.

Even from his prone position beneath her he could see the dampness of her arousal, and he could _definitely_ feel it when she eased down to glide along the length of his cock. She was so blisteringly hot. Iwai’s hands shot out to grip her hips, a plea for some fucking mercy spelled out perfectly clear in his eyes.

Thankfully, she was the merciful sort it would seem.

Iwai’s gaze was riveted, watching her grip the base and slowly lower herself down. Pleasure unfurled in his belly like a flag of surrender with every inch that disappeared into the hot, welcoming bliss of her body. At last she bottomed out, planting her hands flat against his chest and leaning forward so that those pieces of her hair that had gotten free dangled and swayed across his lust drunk vision.

“Mmm, that’s good.”

Iwai couldn’t agree more. His hands on her hips surge back to grip at the more ample flesh of her backside, squeezing and kneading at it as well as gently rocking her over his cock. Those butterfly lashes jumped for his effort and her nails clawed into chest hard enough little white streaks followed behind. This woman. This fucking woman had no idea just how bad he’s got it.

One of his hands snapped up to the back of her neck, pulling her down fast and frantic so that he could pour his lips against her. His hips surged up, plunging deeper as he eagerly devoured her loud moan and gasp. His arm ached with all of it. He was sure he could feel the stitches straining, but he didn’t care. It didn’t matter. He’d deal with the pain later. All that mattered now was this. Was how she felt.

Sayoko met his enthusiasm with her own, finding her bearings on her knees and starting to move with him. The pace was fast and indelicate. Iwai wasn’t sure it could _be_ anything else. Not here behind a curtain in this public space with a woman larger than life. There was no space in him for romance or softness when he was full to the brim with unbridled fascination and lust that all but vibrated through every inch of his body.

The world condensed down to her hot panting breaths against his tongue and the tight, greedy warmth of her body. The bed creaked under their frenzied movement, the frame tapping against the wall above his head, but the flood was rushing so loudly in his ears Iwai couldn’t even be sure how loud they were being. 

Her mouth was on his neck and up to his ear, but it was the sensation of Sayoko sucking and gently tugging at his piercings with her teeth that had him moaning and slamming up into her more roughly than he meant to.

She was like some kind of succubus, stealing his mind and his common sense and quite possibly his soul. Iwai didn’t think he cared anymore. He moved the hand on her neck down her body, indulgently allowing himself the time to squeeze and caress at the shape of her breasts and tickle gently along the softness of her stomach until at last his fingers reached the balmy heat between her legs.

He could still feel the scratch of her pulled aside panties against his cock with every thrust, and Iwai did his best to tug them even further, making room for him to press his fingertips against her clit. The way she jumped and shivered and gasped all for him was all he wanted.

“I’ve got you,” he mumbled nonsensically into her ear, the only part of her he could truly kiss when she was busy gasping into and torturing his own ear. Her movements became less held back. She rolled her body against his own like a sultry snake, digging down, taking what she wanted and leaving scratch marks against his skin.

Nonsensical or not, his words seemed to do the trick. Sayoko’s body surged forward roughly, and he knew just from how tight she went around him that she was orgasming. Her thigh shook violently where they hugged his hips and Iwai could feel her little hat dig awkwardly into his temple while she convulsed on top of him.

It was so wild and fucking good and Iwai held on for dear life as his own pleasure seemed to detonate low in his belly and race out through his entire body. He jerked up into the meager weight of her and held on too tightly, losing himself in jasmine and honey tea and sweat.

He wasn’t sure how long the aftershocks lasted. He lay there on the vaguely coarse sheets and stared up at the ceiling while his heart thudded fast and crazy in his chest. The seconds slipped by slow and unreal, tinged with sleepy fireworks and the now extremely noticeably sting and pulsating pain of his injury. After what could have been minutes or a year, Sayoko slowly lifted up from his chest to look down at him. Her hat was held on by a single bobby pin and Iwai couldn’t resist reaching up to ease it free as if to put it out of its misery. It earned him a sweetly flushed smile and smoldering eyes.

“You alright?” he asked, feeling that like that’s the least he could do. He tried not to let the disappointment show in his voice too obviously as she lifted her hips until he slipped free. He felt too cold and unhappy immediately, but he could handle it.

Sayoko didn’t say anything at first. She sat up and stretched like a cat for his viewing pleasure and then began to casually start pulling her dress back up over her shoulders and fastening it back into place.

The room outside the curtains was quiet at least, and Iwai helpfully reached down to adjust her panties back into place like a gentleman. Or something. Gentleman didn’t exactly fuck their nurses. 

She slipped off his body while he was still admiring her and thinking to himself, and Iwai cursed his tendency to be too quiet. He’d been told he came across as surly and standoffish more times than he could count. He hurried to tuck himself back into his clothes and button his pants before he sat up too, wincing at the pull of his now stiff arm.

What he didn’t expect was for her to bustle away and return a moment later with a pill in a little paper cup and some water. She watched him swallow it before cupping his stubbled jaw and pulling him into a kiss that was almost tender.

“That was fun. Nice to meet a guy who knows what he’s doing,” she chuckles, and the sound of it was so unbearably sexy that Iwai grit his teeth in fear he’d somehow get aroused all over again no matter how impossible it might be.

He wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her close between his knees, marveling all over again at her small frame. With his free hand he did his best to fix her hair, though he failed miserably at it to the point he was smiling in a self-deprecating way after only a few seconds.

She was already pulling away though, her smile not waning but her body language was already erecting barriers. He could practically see them for how palpable they felt.

“Can I have your number?” he asked, reaching for his shirt and starting the struggle of getting into it with his injured arm. The almost stiff quality to it from all the dried blood just made it all the worse, his disgust mixing with his swiftly oncoming disappointment in his stomach.

Sayoko pulled her cardigan back on and picked up the clipboard to complete the image of put together nurse. Her eyes and her smile were still catty and sensual, but nothing about the woman before him let on that she’d just fucked the life out of him not minutes before.

She pretended to think about her answer, playfully tapping the beauty mark on her chin in a subtle teasing manner, but after a moment she smiled more gently. “Not this time, I’m afraid. I only started work here this year. I want to focus on my career.”

Iwai nodded, telling himself he wasn’t disappointed. Could he blame her? Look at him. He was Yakuza, covered in tattoos, and stitched up by her good graces because his life was a dangerous mess that could ruin her plans in a heartbeat. Granted, her word choice intrigued him. ‘Not this time’?

“Right. ‘Course. Maybe some other time? You think if I show up here stabbed again in the future you might want to reconsider?”

Her smile this time around was one he hadn’t seen yet. It started small and slowly crept across his lips, gaining brightness and beauty like a rising sun until her whole face was lit up and her eyes shimmered and crinkled at the edges.

“You know what? If you show up stabbed and I’m still here to patch you up...I might consider letting you buy me dinner.”

Iwai laughed and nodded for her, watching her do one last touch up to her hair. She was so gorgeous and he loved how easily she guided every second of their interaction. 

“Now, let me go see about your discharge paperwork. There’s a phone in reception so you can call a ride.”

He watched her leave with a besotted sigh. The rest of the night moved like a dream. A dream full of mundane paperwork and very quickly approaching exhaustion. He didn’t see Sayoko again. It was a different nurse who came to collect him and take him through his check out. By the time Iwai found himself in the back of a taxi on his way home, he sleepily realized that he had Sayoko’s hat still crumpled and crammed into his pocket.

He fished it out and stared at it under the passing beams of streetlamps through the windows and felt only a little bit stupid as he lifted it up to his nose. 

Jasmine.

Definitely jasmine.


End file.
